Laura Mulvey Theory

Laura Mulvey is a feminist and she looks at the way women are portrayed in media texts. Mulvey's male gaze theory states that media texts are created as if through the eyes of a heterosexual male - women are viewed for the pleasure of men.

The concept of the gaze is how the audience views the people presented. This could be; 

•  How men look at women
•  How women look at themselves 
•  How women look at other women

The main features of the male gaze, is where the camera lingers of curves of the female body through any type of shot but more noticeably a close up. The woman can also be seen in a sexual position where her body is curved in a way so that it highlights the womanly features and causes the audience to view from what a man 'sees' when watching a woman. Below are examples of how this is seen. 

Jennifer Lopez - Live It Up ft Pitbull 

Shakira ft Rihanna - Can't Remember to Forget you. 

Mulvey states that the woman's role is seen in two ways: 

1) Erotic object for characters in narrative view
2) Erotic object for audience view

Key theorist belief; Jonathan Schroeder (1988) - "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"

Male Gaze in Music Video. 

This video is a prime example of the male gaze in music videos. The lyrics 'I love the way she fills her clothes, she looks just like them girls in Vogue' are examples of how the males see women. Also this video features close ups of a girls bum and also has shots of the girls legs being panned up and down.